Grammy, Tony, Dove award winners part of 2013 KM concert series

By Bernie Petit

Published: Friday, January 11, 2013 at 05:52 PM.

In high school and college, he booked gigs for The Riverias, a regional do-wop rock group, after realizing his guitar work was never going to be good enough to go onstage. During a two-year stint as a director at Spirit Square in Charlotte in the 1990s, Dancy booked three of the four acts he’s bringing to Kings Mountain this year.

He befriended Darin Aldridge shortly after moving to Cleveland County and credits Darin and wife Brooke Aldridge – the Sweethearts of Bluegrass – for jumpstarting the concert series in Kings Mountain in 2010 with their annual holiday concerts. Dancy helped the Aldridges with scheduling when they first started touring.

“Music has always been part of my life,” he said. “I’ve just never been able to play much of it. My role is to help people play that can really play.”

WANT TO GO?

All Music at the Joy 2013 Concert Series performances take place at the Joy Performance Center, 202 S. Railroad Ave., Kings Mountain. Season tickets are $70 per person. Tickets to individual shows are $20 in advance and $25 the day of the show. Show times are 8 p.m.

Tickets are available by calling the Joy box office at 704-730-9408 or visiting TicketsNC.com. For more information, call Dancy at 704-472-7762.

Even more live music is on the way to Kings Mountain, thanks to the efforts of a lifelong music lover.

The recently announced Music at the Joy 2013 Concert Series launches next month and will bring Grammy, Tony, Dove and International Bluegrass Music Association award winners to the renovated Joy Performance Center.

The series will feature performances by Nashville singer-songwriters Jerry Salley and Lisa Shaffer, old-time country duo Robin and Linda Williams, eclectic mountain music band Red Clay Ramblers and “Carolina Heroes” musicians David Holt and Josh Goforth .

Rick Dancy , the man behind the four-concert series, said the shows are a result of the efforts of the Kings Mountain Little Theatre volunteers. Patrons raised more than $77,000 for renovations that added 46 seats and updated the building’s art deco design with exposed brick, wainscoting and sound dampening material to improve acoustics last year.

“The Joy is just a jewel,” said Dancy , 68. “The good thing is the performers are excited to be coming in. It’s not just another paying gig for them. They like the venue, they like what we’re doing.”

So have local audiences, which is why the concert series grew from three shows last year to four performances this year. Two of last year’s concerts were sold out with the third concert 22 seats away from a sellout, said Dancy , a Charlotte native who moved to Kings Mountain in 1995.

WHY IT WORKS

What’s made the concert series appealing, he said, has been an effort to bring award-winning talent to the Joy at reasonable prices for audiences. Performers helped by agreeing to scale back their normal rates to be part of the series.

Nobody is making much money off the concerts, said Dancy , who is financing the series. Any profits will likely be donated to the theatre.

“We’re trying to get the word out that these things sell out and if you wait until the last minute, you might not get to see the show,” he said.

The upcoming concert series has spurred even more updates to the Joy. Volunteers are refurbishing the upstairs balcony, which will include cabaret-style seating for about 40 people. Work could be finished by Feb. 22, when Salley and Shaffer open the series.

“They needed an excuse to do it and having sellouts, that’s a good excuse,” he said.

BEHIND THE MUSIC

For Dancy , who retired eight years ago as director of the Cleveland County Chapter of the American Red Cross, the series is a reason to stay involved in music. His father made banjos and his family was friends with notable bluegrass musicians, including Doc Watson.

In high school and college, he booked gigs for The Riverias, a regional do-wop rock group, after realizing his guitar work was never going to be good enough to go onstage. During a two-year stint as a director at Spirit Square in Charlotte in the 1990s, Dancy booked three of the four acts he’s bringing to Kings Mountain this year.

He befriended Darin Aldridge shortly after moving to Cleveland County and credits Darin and wife Brooke Aldridge – the Sweethearts of Bluegrass – for jumpstarting the concert series in Kings Mountain in 2010 with their annual holiday concerts. Dancy helped the Aldridges with scheduling when they first started touring.

“Music has always been part of my life,” he said. “I’ve just never been able to play much of it. My role is to help people play that can really play.”

WANT TO GO?

All Music at the Joy 2013 Concert Series performances take place at the Joy Performance Center, 202 S. Railroad Ave., Kings Mountain. Season tickets are $70 per person. Tickets to individual shows are $20 in advance and $25 the day of the show. Show times are 8 p.m.

Tickets are available by calling the Joy box office at 704-730-9408 or visiting TicketsNC.com. For more information, call Dancy at 704-472-7762.

THE UPCOMING SEASON

JERRY SALLEY 7 LISA SHAFFER: NASHVILLE SINGER-SONGWRITERS IN CONCERT

Feb. 22

Called “One of Music Row’s greatest veteran tunesmiths” by Billboard Magazine, Salley – the 2003 Country Music Songwriter of the Year – has had more than 340 songs recorded in his career. He’s written songs for Elton John, Loretta Lynn, the Oak Ridge Boys, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith and Brad Paisley, among others. As an artist, he’s performed as a soloist many times on the world famous Grand Ole Opry. Shaffer, a songwriter, singer and band leader, has written songs for Cold Ford, Bradley Walker and Rhonda Vincent. She also wrote two chart-topping songs for Darin & Brooke Aldridge.

ROBIN AND LINDA WILLIAMS

June 22

For more than three decades, Robin and Linda Williams have performed “a robust blend of bluegrass, folk, old-time and acoustic country that combines wryly observant lyrics with a wide-ranging melodicism.” Artists who have covered their songs include Emmylou Harris, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Kathy Mattea. Linda is an Alabama native and Robin, the son of a Presbyterian minister, was born in Charlotte. In 1975, they first appeared on the “A Prairie Home Companion” radio show. In the 1980s they teamed with Garrison Keillor and Kate MacKenzie to form The Hopeful Gospel Quartet.

RED CLAY RAMBLERS

Aug. 17

The Tony Award-winning Red Clay Ramblers are a North Carolina band with a repertoire reflecting old-time mountain music, bluegrass, country, rock, New Orleans jazz, gospel and the American musical. They have been frequent guests on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and developed “Kudzu: A Southern Musical” in collaboration with Pulitzer-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette. “The house band of North Carolina” has also performed with Grammy-winner Shawn Colvin (a former Rambler), Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys and Randy Newman.

DAVID HOLT & JOSH GOFORTH

Oct. 19

Four-time Grammy winner David Holt is a musician and storyteller dedicated to performing and preserving traditional American music and stories. He hosts public television’s “Folkways,” a North Carolina program that takes the viewer through the Southern Mountains visiting traditional craftsmen and musicians, and Public Radio International’s “ Riverwalk Jazz,” which combines stories of the jazz greats with traditional jazz music. He was a frequent guest on “ Hee Haw” and appeared in the film “O Brother Where Art Thou.” He will perform with multi-instrumentalist Josh Goforth .